How North Carolina's Money Follows the Person Program Can Grow Your Home Care Agency

If you provide home care in North Carolina, there’s a program you need to know about! It could be sending more clients your way.

It’s called Money Follows the Person (MFP), and since 2009, it has helped more than 2,000 people move out of nursing homes and care facilities and back into their own homes and communities.

Those people need home care. That’s where you come in.

What Is MFP?

MFP is a federally funded program that helps Medicaid-eligible North Carolinians leave hospitals, nursing homes, and disability care centers and return to living in the community.

The program helps people:

• Move back into their own home, a family member’s home, or a small group home
• Get connected to Medicaid home and community-based services
• Cover one-time moving costs like deposits, furniture, ramps, and utilities

Why Should Home Care Agencies Care?

When someone transitions through MFP, they leave their facility with a care plan already in place and Medicaid services already authorized. That means they are ready to receive home care services from day one.

MFP clients are connected to programs that fund in-home care, including:

• CAP/DA (Community Alternatives Program for Disabled Adults)
• TBI Waiver (Traumatic Brain Injury)
• NC Innovations Waiver (I/DD)
• PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly)

If your agency is enrolled in any of these programs, MFP participants are potential clients.

Who Qualifies for MFP?

A client may qualify if they:

• Have lived in a nursing home, hospital, or care facility for at least 60 days
• Are eligible for community-based Medicaid
• Are approved for home and community-based services
• Want to move into their own home or a family member’s home

What the Transition Process Looks Like

MFP walks each person through four steps:

1. Check eligibility: Find out if MFP is the right fit for your client
2. Apply: Submit an application (available in English and Spanish)
3. Plan the move: Work with a Transition Coordinator to build a personalized plan
4. Move home: Transition into the community with services already in place

By the time a client is ready for home care, the hard work of planning and setup is already done.

How Your Agency Can Get Involved

Know the program. Make sure your team understands what MFP is so they can spot potential referrals and answer questions from families.

Connect with discharge planners. Many MFP transitions start at the facility level. Build relationships with hospital and nursing home discharge teams, so your agency is top of mind when someone is ready to come home.

Stay Medicaid-enrolled. MFP clients are served through Medicaid waiver programs. Keep your enrollment current so you’re ready to serve them.

Make referrals. Know someone in a facility who wants to come home? Share MFP with them. You could be the reason they find their way back to the community — and to your care.